Abstract
THE story of the search for the sources of the Nile is the longest and most interesting in the annals of geographical exploration. It dates from the earliest days of geography; it has ever presented new problems; and the quarrel over the boundary between the Congo Free State and British East Africa, in the Upper Nile basin, is the latest example of political muddles due to geographical ignorance. The sources of the Nile roused speculation in the earliest days of Egyptian geography, owing to the mysterious rising of the Nile at the driest and hottest time of the year. The view that the river rises owing to the melting of equatorial snows was for long accepted; but it is now known to be the effect of the rainy season on the Abyssinian Mountains as the contribution from the equatorial snowfields is insignificant, and even the great reservoir, the Victoria Nyanza, gives only a minor addition to the Egyptian floods. The story of the Nile is of especial interest to British students of geography, as the larger share to the solution of its problems has been contributed by British explorers, and practically the whole of the Nile basin, with the exception of Abyssinia, is now under British administration.
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G., J. The Nile Quest 1 . Nature 73, 391–392 (1906). https://doi.org/10.1038/073391a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/073391a0